Local lawyers offer free foreclosure-prevention help

By AUBREY COHEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 10:00 pm, Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Photo: Clifford DesPeaux/seattlepi.com

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Eva Buck, who lost her home in a foreclosure, speaks in support of the new legal program during the launch of the Washington State Bar Association's Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project at the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. less

Eva Buck, who lost her home in a foreclosure, speaks in support of the new legal program during the launch of the Washington State Bar Association's Home Foreclosure Legal Aid Project at the Urban League of ... more

Photo: Clifford DesPeaux/seattlepi.com

Local lawyers offer free foreclosure-prevention help

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When Eva Buck fell behind on her mortgage, a company told the single mother of two it could help her keep her home.

Buck found the Northwest Justice Project in the phone book and a project lawyer helped her confront the foreclosure-rescue scammers, she said. "Unfortunately we did lose our home, but we did get restitution."

Now, the Washington State Bar Association has launched a new effort to ensure more troubled homeowners have access to a lawyer. People can find out about the program here or by calling (877) 894-HOME (4663).

"Home foreclosures in Washington are epidemic," bar association President Mark Johnson said at a news conference to announce the program. He said foreclosures doubled from about 3,400 in 2007 to 6,800 in 2008 and are continuing to surge.

The bar association is spending $150,000 on a foreclosure legal team and $10,000 for online training materials, is donating staff time to the effort and has recruited about 270 volunteer lawyers so far toward a goal of about 500.

"The numbers demonstrate that housing counseling works and helps homeowners stay in their homes," she said.

But the need for foreclosure help "far exceeds the current capacity," and many programs only aid people earning up to 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines, Johnson said. The bar association program will focus on people earning 200 to 400 percent of the poverty guidelines.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, herself a lawyer, noted that Washington was late to join the nationwide foreclosure crisis.

"Unfortunately it has hit Washington State and it's hit us hard," she said. "With 3,000 new foreclosure filings each month, the crisis clearly is not going to go away any time soon."

During the first quarter, 0.74 percent of Washington mortgages started the foreclosure process, and 1.8 percent were in foreclosure at the end of the quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. These were up 64 percent and 145 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

The nationwide shares of loans in foreclosure and foreclosure starts were 1.4 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively. Those are significantly higher than Washington's rates, although the state's rates increased faster.

The crisis "is a call for everyone in Washington to step up and volunteer," Gregoire said.

"So you're seeing a slight uptick this year," Ellerbrook said. He said the city started tracking the numbers last year and does not have earlier data.

A pilot project Seattle launched last year to help people facing foreclosure has provided counseling for more than 200 homeowners but loans to just nine, because the loans may only go to people earning no more than 80 percent of median income, Ellerbrook said.